SPOILER ALERT!!
This film is creepy for creepy's sake, created only to cash in on the popularity of its more famous sources-the Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby- and, unlike its sources, has no salient message about good vs. evil or the mystery of faith to offer its viewers. That being said, this is strange, Bava-informed Ovidio Assonitis film making at its best!! Ed Montoro and Assonitis had no greater ambition than to give the movie audiences what they wanted, and, in the 1970's, they wanted to be creeped out by demonically possessed women.
You want soup vomiting?, you got soup vomiting; you want to see TV's wholesome Phoebe Figalilly cuss and rage?-you got that, too!! You also have daring, if not failed, lighting experiments, smothering and fear-inducing camera work, and some amazing usage of color. That first head spinning scene is bathed in a harmless, toy-like pink that juxtaposes Jessica's evil leer at Gail so effectively, and with such great irony. That scene looks like a Tim Burton creation.
Of course, what critique of "Chi Sei?" would be complete without mentioning the beautiful shower of glass shards and slow-motion dying fish when Jessica tosses the ashtray at Robert's coveted fish tank, or the "What begins with G/toys coming to life" scene, or the flying eyeball that Sam Raimi borrowed and perfected as a variation of a Three Stooges gag in "Evil Dead 2?"
My favorite frame comes right before Jessica levitates out of bed. There is this close-up of her eye as it opens that is so broadly-drawn and colorful-a truly stunning image. That one frame shows me that Assonitis, if he had any sense at all, could have made some decent films. Fortunately, he was clueless, and chose to make movies like "Chi Sei?"
Assonitis really exploits Juliet Mills' strange eyes much in the same way Mario Bava did those of Barbara Steele in Black Sunday (Do a comparison of the American one sheets for this film and Black Sunday and see what I mean). There is no uglier possessed woman in drive in moviedom than Jessica Barrett, just as there is not a more beautiful actress when out of her possession makeup than Juliet Mills.
I like the way that Assonitis mixes the traditional Mercedes McCambridge voice-over acting with Mills' actual, witchy-sounding voice (when she does that creepy sing-song "he wants to steal my baby" during the infamous "brain scan" scene, weird vibes and cold chills abound).
The film stock for "Chi Sei?" stinks, and the so-called "Possessound" effect amounts to little more than amplifying the sound of someone snoring and laughing devilishly, but what other movie captures the spirit of 1970's rip-off drive in movie fare like this one?
And-dare I say it?-the soundtrack is far stranger, campier, and loungier than the well-loved "Vampiros Lesbos" soundtrack. All of that weird "Who are you? (the film's actual translated title)" business, and those strange giggles mixed in with the "Eurotrash" lounge music and the lysergic percussion effects creep out even those scenes that occur in broad daylight (why else would you be so freaked out over watching a woman eating a rotten banana peel if the music underneath it was not so disturbing?).
It's been said before: "Chi Sei?" is "so bad-it's good." It's damn good. What is your problem, Anchor Bay? This film had so much in the way of trailers and exploitative promotional ephemera when it was released that it begs for a fully-loaded nostalgic DVD treatment. Add to the mix that it had so many different titles in so many countries that you could pack a still gallery without blinking an eye.
Once in a while, the crew on the soap opera "Passions" (Juliet Mills' latest gig)will put Juliet Mills in a straight jacket, or will turn her into a goldfish, which persuades to me that the people who make this soap opera were less impressed with Juliet Mills' performances in "Avanti" or "The Other Sister," than they were with her turn as Jessica Barrett in "Chi Sei?," when they cast her as Tabitha the Witch.
"Chi Sei?" the terrible movie that everyone is afraid to say that they like. There is no fear in admitting that "Chi Sei?" is good for B-movie laughs and chills, so-confess.
This film is creepy for creepy's sake, created only to cash in on the popularity of its more famous sources-the Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby- and, unlike its sources, has no salient message about good vs. evil or the mystery of faith to offer its viewers. That being said, this is strange, Bava-informed Ovidio Assonitis film making at its best!! Ed Montoro and Assonitis had no greater ambition than to give the movie audiences what they wanted, and, in the 1970's, they wanted to be creeped out by demonically possessed women.
You want soup vomiting?, you got soup vomiting; you want to see TV's wholesome Phoebe Figalilly cuss and rage?-you got that, too!! You also have daring, if not failed, lighting experiments, smothering and fear-inducing camera work, and some amazing usage of color. That first head spinning scene is bathed in a harmless, toy-like pink that juxtaposes Jessica's evil leer at Gail so effectively, and with such great irony. That scene looks like a Tim Burton creation.
Of course, what critique of "Chi Sei?" would be complete without mentioning the beautiful shower of glass shards and slow-motion dying fish when Jessica tosses the ashtray at Robert's coveted fish tank, or the "What begins with G/toys coming to life" scene, or the flying eyeball that Sam Raimi borrowed and perfected as a variation of a Three Stooges gag in "Evil Dead 2?"
My favorite frame comes right before Jessica levitates out of bed. There is this close-up of her eye as it opens that is so broadly-drawn and colorful-a truly stunning image. That one frame shows me that Assonitis, if he had any sense at all, could have made some decent films. Fortunately, he was clueless, and chose to make movies like "Chi Sei?"
Assonitis really exploits Juliet Mills' strange eyes much in the same way Mario Bava did those of Barbara Steele in Black Sunday (Do a comparison of the American one sheets for this film and Black Sunday and see what I mean). There is no uglier possessed woman in drive in moviedom than Jessica Barrett, just as there is not a more beautiful actress when out of her possession makeup than Juliet Mills.
I like the way that Assonitis mixes the traditional Mercedes McCambridge voice-over acting with Mills' actual, witchy-sounding voice (when she does that creepy sing-song "he wants to steal my baby" during the infamous "brain scan" scene, weird vibes and cold chills abound).
The film stock for "Chi Sei?" stinks, and the so-called "Possessound" effect amounts to little more than amplifying the sound of someone snoring and laughing devilishly, but what other movie captures the spirit of 1970's rip-off drive in movie fare like this one?
And-dare I say it?-the soundtrack is far stranger, campier, and loungier than the well-loved "Vampiros Lesbos" soundtrack. All of that weird "Who are you? (the film's actual translated title)" business, and those strange giggles mixed in with the "Eurotrash" lounge music and the lysergic percussion effects creep out even those scenes that occur in broad daylight (why else would you be so freaked out over watching a woman eating a rotten banana peel if the music underneath it was not so disturbing?).
It's been said before: "Chi Sei?" is "so bad-it's good." It's damn good. What is your problem, Anchor Bay? This film had so much in the way of trailers and exploitative promotional ephemera when it was released that it begs for a fully-loaded nostalgic DVD treatment. Add to the mix that it had so many different titles in so many countries that you could pack a still gallery without blinking an eye.
Once in a while, the crew on the soap opera "Passions" (Juliet Mills' latest gig)will put Juliet Mills in a straight jacket, or will turn her into a goldfish, which persuades to me that the people who make this soap opera were less impressed with Juliet Mills' performances in "Avanti" or "The Other Sister," than they were with her turn as Jessica Barrett in "Chi Sei?," when they cast her as Tabitha the Witch.
"Chi Sei?" the terrible movie that everyone is afraid to say that they like. There is no fear in admitting that "Chi Sei?" is good for B-movie laughs and chills, so-confess.